“A girl, ducky.”

“Sure. I’m cracked already on ’em all.”

“The one I mean is named Nemesis and she’ll knock your silly head off.... Like that child upstairs, for example.”

“She’s got a Greek name, too. I’d better remember to ‘fear the Greeks’—yes?”

“Little Eris could double you up.”

“Wh-at?”

“I don’t mean Eris in particular, dear friend. But one of her species.”

“What’s her species?”

“You, a writer!—and you haven’t even doped her out!”

“I have, however,” he contradicted her tranquilly.